ABS-CBN chairman and CEO Eugenio Lopez III yesterday said the future of media is unknown, but assured that ABS-CBN will remain true to its motto of being “in the service of the Filipino.”
“I believe it is an honor and privilege to work for a company that puts public service at its center. For me, working at ABS-CBN is not a job. It is a calling,” said Lopez at the closing of his speech at the 22nd Philippine Ad Congress session on the “Future of TV, Future of Media.”
In his speech, Lopez said technology can change the way people consume media but not the human nature to crave for recognition, affirmation, connection, and the inspiration to be the best that they can be.
“The future of media would be shaped by people’s needs which at its core is emotional,” he said.
As an example, Lopez said ABS-CBN’s teleseryes can now reach every Filipino in the world via cable, satellite, and Internet protocol TV and even catch up on missed episodes via iWanTV, but it is ABS-CBN‘s content that truly lifts the spirits that reflect the people’s joys, pains, values, passions, and dreams.
“We all have relatives abroad. Maybe many of them have told you how Filipino dramas on TFC soothe away the pain of hard work and isolation in strange lands,” he said.
Lopez said the huge investments that the company made in technologies would not have succeeded if Filipinos were not burning with patriotism and yearning for redemption.
He cited various examples such as the Pinoy Big Brother being a phenomenal TV hit and the first local TV program to have 26 cameras rolling 24/7 and live streaming on cable TV; Imortal as the country’s first webisodes of a TV series; Boto Mo i-Patrol Mo as the first citizen’s election vigilance campaign using technology; and TFC to be the first to hold a Global Townhall with President Benigno Aquino III in North America.
At present, Lopez said the company is currently in test broadcast for Digital Terrestial Television or DTT that will give clear digital signals and additional channels to people who can’t afford pay TV.
“We will invest in enabling technologies, but we will continue leveraging our ability to connect to the emotion,” he said. “In this age of gadgets, we believe that the right buttons to press are those in the hearts of the people.”
Lopez said that in the next ad congress, delegates will be talking about media revolutions caused by technologies that are not even viable today, but assured that ABS-CBN will remain “in the service of the Filipino.”
“Over many years, we were able to maintain a meaningful relationship with the Filipino audience, being the media company that connects our countrymen all over the globe through all kinds of media platforms,” he said.
Lopez, who leads the country’s largest multimedia conglomerate that is turning 60 next year, told the Ad Congress delegates that he has been in the media business over 25 years and that is all he ever wanted to do.
“That is all I am ever going to do. I feel like that NBA player who marvels at getting paid for something he would do for free,” said Lopez, who was applauded by the attending delegates.
Lopez was one of the three media network chairmen who spoke about the future of the media.
